another point to which I have often called attention,
_viz._; that in Islam all interpretation must be regulated by
traditionalism.

Additions were occasionally made. Thus when it was revealed that those who
stay at home were not before God as those who go forth to war, Abdullah and
Ibn Um-Maktum said: 'and what if they were blind.' The Prophet asked for
the shoulder-blade on which the verse was written. He then had a spasmodic
convulsion. After his recovery he made Zeid add the words, "free from
trouble." So now the whole verse reads thus: "Those believers who sit at
home _free from trouble_ (_i.e._, bodily infirmity), and those who do
valiantly in the cause of God, with their substance and their persons,
shall not be treated alike." (Sura iv. 97). Years after, Zeid said: "I
fancy I see the words now on the shoulder-blade near a crack."

{64}

The question of the eternal nature of the Quran does not properly come
under the head of 'Ilm-i-usul, but it is a dogma fondly cherished by many
Muslims. In the days of the Khalif Al-Mamun this question was fiercely
debated. The Freethinkers, whilst believing in the Mission of Muhammad,
asserted that the Quran was created, by which statement they meant that the
revelation came to him in a subjective mode, and that the language was his
own. The book was thus brought within the reach of criticism. In the year
212, A.H. the Khalif issued a decree to the effect that all who held the
Quran to be uncreated were to be declared guilty of heresy. But the Khalif
himself was a notorious rationalist, and so the orthodox, though they
remained quiet, remained unconvinced. The arguments used on the orthodox
side are, that both the words and their pronunciation are eternal, that the
attempt to draw a distinction between the word as it exists in the Divine
Mind and as it appears in the Quran is highly dangerous. In vain do their
opponents argue that, if the Quran is uncreated, two Eternal Beings are in
existence. To this it is answered: "This is the honourable Quran, written
in the preserved Tablet." (Sura lvi. 76). A Tradition is also adduced which
states: "God wrote the Thora (Law) with His own hand, and with His own hand
He created Adam; and also in the Quran it is written, 'and We wrote for him
upon the tables a monition concerning every matter,' in reference to the
tables of the Law given to Moses." If God did this for former prophets and
their works, how much more, it is argued, should he